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Talk:Skarner/@comment-24634861-20141224063618
I have played Skarner in the Jungle since I was around level 3, and I'm level level 30 now! I've learned a lot about League and seen enough to know my champion's strengths and weaknesses. Chasing and dueling are some of Skarner's dominant strengths. However his weaknesses to burst, ranged, or sustaining champions are all too apparent. He is a well rounded champ, but not powerful enough to meet the threat that most champions present. Looking at what he used to be and what he is now, I know that there is a middle ground between them that would make him viable. Many Summoners didn't like his nerfs, and I wasn't one of them. The old Skarner was a broken in too many places, and the current Skarner is too weak. I'm not complaining about the past because I'd rather look to the future. It simply isn't going to work for us to complain and petition for a rework because we need to give better reasons than "he's trash." His kit is well rounded and the ideas that brought it into being were good. However, it is possible to be rounded and at the same time be poor all around the board. I am asking for a rework to most of his kit that retains the integrity of what he is now, while raising his skill ceiling. Well, I did say that improvement will not come unless I give reasons and suggestions, so let the essay commence! Base Stats and Mana Costs: His base stats should all go unchanged. They are good and help him a lot in the early Jungle when his clear times are weak. His mana costs are the only thing that Riot has monitored and they're fine as well. He is mana expensive once he starts using any other ability besides his Q, and that IS good for balance. However with the suggestions I am making there is one ability's cost that needs to be increased. That would be his ult, which as far as I'm concerned should get a huge rework. I feel like the mana cost should be increased to make sure that he uses it wisely whether it be a finisher or initiator. I thought about upping the cost by 25 mana at all ranks (which is a noticeable increase), but that would be easily negated by just building Iceborn Gauntlet or Frozen Heart. So instead it will cost 10% / 15% / 20% current mana. Using this early in a gank will cost a LOT of mana, or if it's used later when he has less mana it will cost less. I feel like this is a good trade-off for the buffs he's getting. If you're at 2000 mana then it will cost 400 at rank 3, or if you have 200 mana left then it costs 40. Anyway you look at it the spell will be expensive, and this will make Skarner players a bit more cautious when using it. It leaves the champion's mana pool a bit dry, giving enemies a chance to capitalize on it. NEW PASSIVE Bracken Blade: After using an ability, Skarner's next basic attack slows the target by 2 / 4 / 6% per stack of Crystal Venom (8 / 16 / 24% slow at four/full stacks) for 1.5 seconds (upgrades at levels 9 and 16). This cannot stack with itself, consecutive empowered basic attacks will only refresh the two second slow. If this is added, then Skarner's perma-slow returns in exchange for his only non-ultimate, Hard CC. The slow is different from his old perma-slow in that it isn't AoE, and it takes a while to ramp up. It grants better peel in teamfights and will changes his ganks up a great deal. It would also be useful for some visual indicator of an enemy's current stacks to be added, similar to Braum's passive. I should note that sense this passive no longer consumes the stacks, the ulting an enemy to make use of those stacks is much easier. (Once again encouraging the ult's use as a finisher) Reason: By removing some of Skarner's Hard CC, compensation can be made to the rest of his kit. The loss of the passive stun nerfs his early clears, so he takes more damage from camps. It also makes counterbuilding him EASIER as Boots of Swiftness, which didn't guard against his stun, now reduce most of his CC. The problem with Crystallizing Sting is that it falls off late-game. Sure you CAN use it, but in teamfights it isn't all that good. This is a good compromise from his old permaslow. It isn't an AoE slow like it was pre 4.2, and it holds a lot of synergy with the Spellblade items. The Skarner of Old's Passive: It used to be Energize, an ability that would reduce ALL of his cooldowns (yes, ult too) by 1 second every time you AA a champion and .5 seconds for AAing all other non-structures. Tweak Crystal Slash: Cooldown: 3.5 (unchanged) Mana Cost: 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 (unchanged) Physical Damage: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+40% AD) Magic Damage: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+30% AP) from (+20% AP) Movement Speed per stack: REMOVED formerly 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6% (max 6 / 9 / 12 / 15 / 18%) Attack Speed per stack: 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 / 12% (max 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48%) Keep the Physical Damage's ratio at 40% AD, and bring the Magic Damage up to 30% AP (was 20%). The total ratio is 10% higher than that of the current spell, and was raised so that AP Skarner is not entirely reliant on Impale to deal damage. Crystal Slash is not meant enable him to become a bruiser, it is meant to give Skarner stickiness, proc his passives, and give him Attack Speed. The initial weak hit before you can start stacking the spell will be removed. It's a holdover from when Q slowed so it's not needed for balance. Since there are four levels of Crystalline Venom now, there are also four levels of Crystal Energy. The first hit of this spell will stack Venom and charge Energy. His AA slow takes a while to get ramped up, and by that time the enemy may be under tower. The bonus movement speed was removed in favor of his new passive, Bracken Blade. Reason: Currently Crystal Slash doesn't do much damage late game, so its only use is for the active: Spellblade and his passive/ult. With this buff it will deal a bit more damage and will benefit any build type in a similar fashion. It's also for his camp-clears, which right now suffer quite a bit if you build AP. The Skarner of Old's Crystal Slash: Crystal Slash used to have a slow, an 80% AD ratio on the physical damage, and a 40% AP ratio on the magic damage. It didn't give him MS, but it had perma-slow. The reason why the initial weak hit of Crystal Slash is there is not because of balance, it's actually a carry-over from the old Skarner. He had that so that he couldn't get the perma-slow immediately. That's why it should be removed, as it is no longer needed. Remove Crystalline Exoskeleton and replace it with Crystal Carapace: Credit to Zeke the Zealot for coming up with the name and function of this ability. Crystal Carapace (toggle): Cooldown: 5 (affected by Cooldown Reduction) from 13 / 12.5 / 12 / 11.5 / 11 Mana Cost: 50 from 60 Solidify – Skarner gains 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 / 60 passive armor and magic resistance and a 12% movement speed reduction (3 second channel). Other players can see what form he's in and when he's channeling; however channel does NOT inhibit movement. Shed Exoskeleton – Skarner sheds his bulky carapace, losing the passive resistances and the movement speed penalty, instead gaining 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 / 60 movement speed (3 second channel) and a 25% MR and armor reduction. While this ability does not scale off of differing offenses, it does suit varying playstyles quite well. Both forms have their disadvantages. In a teamfight you can be easily peeled because of the reduced MS, and when ganking you need to be careful of turnarounds. The cooldown is also high enough that you can't switch back and forth every time you need to juke a skillshot or a Katarina initiates onto you. With Crystal Carapace you have weaknesses that can be exploited same as now with Crystalline Exoskeleton. Sticking to just one form in the Jungle is suggested due to the mana cost that comes with the ability (unless you have blue buff). Strategy: Solidify is great for farming in the early Jungle; you have blue buff and can handle toggling from camp to camp. It's also great for ganking bot-lane, you shouldn't need the MS as the laners will provide CC, and the resistance will help from getting focused in case of a turnaround. Solidify will help with ganking mid also; Skarner won't be doing much chasing and the resistance will limit enemy burst. Shed Exoskeleton will create a presence across the map. A constant movement increase, it is a great thing but can spell doom if you're caught off guard. Should you have poor vision control then it can make counter-Junglers' job easy, one burst and you're dead. Remember you cannot switch between modes instantaneously, so you are more vulnerable than you think. It has a three second channel, which gives the enemy team a window to catch you with CC. I feel that it's important to emphasize that it isn't a get out of jail free card. Ganking with New Skarner: Lanes that are behind or at a disadvantage were hard to gank before because you couldn't tank that much. Normally I gank lanes that are even as the laner can bait. However with the new W it opens up a world of possibilities. Say you're ganking bot lane: you come in with Shed Exoskeleton, switching to Solidify right before Smiting (Challenging) the ADC, slowing them with Fracture, then closing the gap to apply Bracken Blade. My laners then apply damage and secure a kill. Now for top: the enemy is a Nasus and the ally, Shyvana. My goal is to keep him locked down with CC. In come in with Shed (wards were cleared) but I don't switch to Solidify. My goal is to initiate with Impale and pull him back as far as possible. Shyvana initiated early to waste his slow on her, I come in from the river, and pull him back. After he's released I use Fracture, Smite, Bracken Blade slows him, then I use Fracture again to gain Tenacity for his incoming Whither, and we either get the kill or burn his flash. That is how ganks can go with the new Skarner. You have a lot more utility and smart skill usage is rewarded. Reason: Skarner has very little innate tankiness other than base stats. Right now his W is an AP scaling shield. Most champions with AP shields are supports who put them on other people. So to have a tank with one, it is counter-productive to how you want to be building. What you want are additional bonuses for building defensively like Nautilus' HP scaling shield, or Braum's...everything. This does that, not with fancy ratios but by enhancing your build's playstyle. The shield doesn't help him all because it had to be weak to account for the Movement Speed along with it. It was primarily for ganks or escape, with his tank archtype left as an afterthought. Now, both the tanking and ganking aspects of Skarner are preserved in return for a way to counter him better. A tank's weakness is kiting, and thus he will be tankier but more easily kited. A ganker's weakness can be vulnerability, and so he gets better ganks but is squishier. Shed Exoskeleton is a reduction in speed from Crystalline Exoskeleton but the speed is constant. It slows down his currently amazing ganks in return for better resistances and map presence. Playing him gives greater reward for advancing your skills. The Skarner of Old's Crystalline Exoskeleton: The bonus movement speed was instantaneous, not ramping up over 3 seconds like it does now. The shield itself was a bit weaker, but it also gave Skarner Attack Speed while it was active. Add something to Fracture: Cooldown: 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10 (unchanged) Mana Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 Slow: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55% from 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% Keep the damage magical, and don't tamper with it because it could hurt Skarners who play in the lane. However it would apply a new debuff. Moon Shards: When Skarner has full stacks of Crystal Energy, Fracture is empowered and applies a debuff. It marks foes and gives Skarner 15% Tenacity (multiplicative) against CC they apply within the next 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 seconds. (The debuff, by the way, is a reference to Moonflair Spellblade, combined with Skarner's crystal theme.) It only gives Tenacity when Crystal Slash has four charges, so it takes a while to apply the debuff. To compensate for the slow on Bracken Blade, Fracture's slow is reduced by 10% at all levels. Reason: Once again the problem with Skarner is that there is a very low skill cap. There needs to be a reward for playing him well that doesn't just make the champion needlessly complicated. Tenacity complements Skarner's kit very well. The addition also rewards players for maintaining stacks of Crystal Energy (especially in teamfights). The Skarner of Old's Fracture: The old Fracture didn't slow, instead it healed Skarner for every marked enemy he hit. It was eventually given a slow. However it also used to deal 240 damage at max with a 70% AP ratio so...it was actually a bit better considering Skarner had AoE permanent slow on Q back then. Tweak Impale: Cooldown: 110 / 100 / 90 (unchanged) Mana Cost: 10% / 15% / 20% Current Mana from 100 / 125 / 150 Base Damage (applies both hits): 50 / 100 / 150 (+50% AD)(physical) from 100 / 150 / 200 (+50% AP) Maximum Bonus Damage (4 stacks required): 100 / 150 / 200 (+120% AP) from 150 / 225 / 300 (3 stacks required) This is by far the most technical change I've suggested yet. Make the normal damage physical, reduce the base damage to 50 / 100 / 150 (each hit) from 100 / 150 / 200, and give it a 50% AD ratio (each hit)(from 50% AP). This is to make sure that as an initiator there isn't much damage coming from the spell. Pulls are meant to not deal much damage because your teammates will be doing that. It was pretty annoying before, and I think this rework makes it better as an ability you use WISELY. It further cements Skarner's playstyle to something that requires immense skill. The base bonus damage from ulting someone with max stacks of Crystal Venom should be reduced to 80 / 140 / 200 (from 150 / 225 / 300) magic damage but given a 120% AP ratio (it had no ratio before). It would add 20 / 35 / 50 (+30% AP) magic damage for each stack of Crystal Venom the enemy has (remember it stacks 4 times now). The drawback to this is if you didn't build any Ability power, it will deal 200 damage at level 16... This cannot be exploited by building 500 AP because you need tankiness in order to get all four stacks on an opponent without being insta-popped. Even if you did build 500 successfully and stack it fully to deal 800 damage, the AD portion of the ult would deal next to nothing. It solidifies the ult as a finisher, and is meant deal more damage the longer you stick to the target. Remember it now costs 10% / 15% / 20% of Skarner's current mana! The whole change is a great rework, because of how annoying Skarner's ult can be. Many people don't think he needs buffs just because his ult is decent! If this train of thinking continues then he will always be a one trick pony. So to make sure that all of the other buffs are balanced, they have a big trade-off. It also leaves him a bit spent after using it as a finisher (full stacks), and limited after initiating with it (no stacks). As an initiator it deals less damage because it's team reliant. It's a great multi-purpose ability that should be used strategically. As a dueling move (or by using it late in a gank) it deals amazing damage but uses up enough mana so you'll probably have to recall. It also promotes better mana management and gives Skarner a bigger weakness to exploit in return for a positive changes. In the Jungle his mana management will be easy, but in ganking he will have mana issues. I feel like this is the kind of change that Riot enjoys making. Reason: As it stands, Skarner can be countered by anyone with a good MR item and the ability to kite. Riot has said that the way for you to counter Skarner is to counter his build. It's sad because what Riot said, didn't quite work, the way you counter Skarner is by just picking a good champion. Udyr, Kalista, Ahri, even Garen can counter him well! This boost helps those counters not be excessive but still relevant. Impale is Skarner's finisher now, not initiator. The Crystal Vanguard's ult is too free and it feels like the bonuses you get for sticking on the enemy are slight. It's better just to ult someone and pull them in your team than stack it. Many complain about this and for good reason. These changes round it out as an initiator that needs team support to work, and a dueling move that costs a lot of mana to take advantage of (the cost of the spells to stack it in addition to Impale's cost). He gets some bonus resistances, still doesn't deal a lot of damage (nor should he), and separate playstyles instead of just being a sticky tank with a pull. Riot, even if you aren't going to institute all of my suggestions, at least you might draw some ideas from them. These are good suggestions here on how to make Skarner viable. (please don't make another champion from these ideas, just use them on Skarner) The Skarner of Old's Impale: It did less damage, but also was up more often. His old passive made it so ALL of his spells were up much sooner than they were normally. If he had full AS and he attacked a champion then it would be up every 19 seconds! He had no need for CDR. This is the middle ground between the old and current Skarner. His weaknesses still carry over: he has some mana issues, troubles with kiting, and a lessened but still obvious vulnerability to burst damage. Champions with Armor Reduction (Trundle/Nasus), infinite sustain (Warwick/Rek'Sai), kiting kits (Vayne/Kalista), amazing team-fighters (Amumu/Fiddlesticks), or burst damage (Master Yi/Katarina) will still be good against Skarner. The matchups can be softened by changing your playstyle and his mechanics support that. This is has definitely changed enough of the scorpion's kit to be called an overhaul and not a buff/tweak. Currently, Skarner's a one trick pony. People realize this, and that's why he is picked less than 1.25% of the time. His win rate hovers around 51% not because he's good, but because he is picked so seldom that the matchup is not widely known. Riot, please make Skarner an interesting and good champion. Branching out from playing Skarner has shown me how weak he has become. I feel like my suggestions give his entire kit the synergy that it lacks. The Crystal Vanguard has the start of a great skill-set. Debuff reliant, my new Skarner would feel similar but require a deep understanding and management of abilities. The player would be required to know the champion fully and never stick to one build. Once again let me stress that the Skarner I created is better balanced than his pre-4.20 self, but more skill-based than post-4.20. This is the Skarner that I wanted since I started playing League! Zeke the Zealot's thread can be found here: forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4565799 Let me also add that voting yes on this shows Riot that you want Skarner changes. You're supporting the notion that Skarner needs change.